Virtual white lines for delimiting planned excavation sites

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. Data representing an aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area is electronically received, the data including geo-coding or geographical identification metadata associated with the aerial image. At least a portion of the aerial image is displayed on a display device, including at least one map symbol, street name, region, and/or landmark description superimposed upon or displayed separately from the geographic area. The dig area is delimited on the displayed image, via a user input device associated with the display device, so as to generate a marked-up digital image including a delimited dig area. Information relating to the marked-up digital image is electronically transmitted and/or electronically stored so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/050,555, filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Mar. 18,2008 by Nielsen et al., the entire contents of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of delimitingexcavation sites, and more particularly, using aerial imagery and whiteline mark-ups for delimiting a dig area where excavation is planned andproviding the marked-up version of the aerial image, via an electronicor tangible delivery system, to another entity.

2. Description of the Related Art

Excavators are required to notify underground facility owners/operatorsin advance of their excavation activities and to describe andcommunicate the geographic area of those activities to undergroundfacility owners/operators. The geographic area so described is commonlyreferred to as “the dig area.” In turn, facility owners/operators arerequired to determine if they own or operate any underground facilitiesat an identified dig area. The presence of underground facilities at adig area is generally detected using a device commonly referred to as a“locate wand.” Locate wands use a number of electronic methods to detectthe presence of underground facilities. The presence of thoseunderground facilities, if any, which exist within a dig area is markedusing paint or some other physical marking system, such as flags. Paintis generally applied as a sequence of dashes or dots on the surface(grass, dirt, asphalt, concrete, etc.) above the underground facilityand is color-coded to indicate to the excavator the type (e.g., gas,water, sewer, power, telephone, cable television, etc.) of theunderground facility present. Flags, which also may identify theunderground facility using color-coding, can be placed in the groundabove the underground facility being marked. Paint and/or flags can bedispensed using various devices. The application of paint, flags, orsome other marking object to indicate the presence of an undergroundfacility is called a “locate” or “locate operation.” The marks, forexample, paint or flags, resulting from a locate are commonly calledunderground facility “locate marks.”

Currently, excavators may communicate with facility owners through“one-call centers.” These one-call centers are generally owned,controlled, or funded by underground facility owners, such as telephonecompanies, cable television multiple system operators, electricutilities, gas utilities, or others. One-call center operations may bemanaged by a non-profit entity or outsourced to a for-profit firm.Excavators are required to notify one-call centers in advance of theirexcavation activities and identify through a “locate request” the digarea where individual excavating activities will be performed. Locaterequests consist of information supplied by the excavator to theone-call center regarding the specific geographic location of the digarea, date, time, purpose of excavation, and so on. The locate request,in turn, requires activity from an underground facility owner to performa locate operation in the specified dig area.

One-call centers may receive locate requests from excavators viaelectronic delivery or verbally through a telephone conversation betweenthe excavator and a human operator working for a one-call center.Whether communicated electronically or verbally, excavators mustdescribe the planned geographic locations of the proposed dig areas.This description is ultimately reduced to text, which, along with otherdata about a locate request, is communicated to the appropriateunderground facility owner or owners responsible for locating anyunderground facilities within the dig area so described. Textualdescriptions of dig areas can be very imprecise as to exact physicallocations. In addition, addresses, which are provided, may be unclear,not yet assigned or only indicate cross streets and vague descriptionsof the location of the dig area.

On occasion, information provided in the locate request is supplementedby the excavator, who travels to the actual dig area and physicallymarks the dig area in order to physically delimit the actual area to beexcavated. These marks are commonly made using chalk or paint, and aregenerally known as “white lines.” In some states, the responsibleregulatory body may require white lining the path of excavation.

SUMMARY

An image data of the present disclosure is provided. The image dataincludes at least one image including a geographic location. A portionof the geographic location indicates a dig area.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a ticket is provided. Theticket includes a data set associated with a geographic location. Theticket also includes a at least one image including the geographiclocation, a portion of the geographic location indicating a dig area.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a system is provided. Thesystem includes an excavator, a provider of locate operations, and a digarea associated with at least one image.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects and features of the present disclosure, which are believedto be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims.The present disclosure, both as to its organization and manner ofoperation, together with further objectives and advantages, may be bestunderstood by reference to the following description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings as set forth below:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of the white line delimiting concept describedherein;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary network in which systems and methodsdescribed herein may be implemented;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary components of the network of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary components of a central server of FIG.2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of exemplary routines associated with a user deviceand/or the central server of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of exemplary activities of a central server formanaging a locate request;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of exemplary activities of a user device forsubmitting a locate request and for adding virtual white lines to anaerial image;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary data set that may be stored in thememory of the central server of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an exemplary user interface that includes virtualwhite line marking tools that may be presented via a user device of FIG.3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying figures.The same reference numbers in different figures may identify the same orsimilar elements. In addition, the following detailed description doesnot limit the present disclosure.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a diagram of an exemplary concept as describedherein is shown. When a locate request is submitted by an excavator to aone-call center, it may be beneficial for the excavator to delimit theparticular geographic location of the proposed excavation, such as a digarea 100, in a permanent and reproducible manner. The delimited dig area100 indicates to a locate technician the extent of the boundaries wherea locate is to be performed at the request of the excavator. Physicalwhite lines 110 may be used to physically delimit dig area 100. Physicalwhite lines 110 generally may consist of chalk or paint on the surfaceof the ground to identify the dig area 100 boundary. However, thesephysical white lines 110 provide only a temporary indication of dig area100, as physical white lines 110 may deteriorate or be eliminated overtime by certain events such as precipitation, excessive pedestrian orvehicle traffic, erosion, the excavation process, or numerous otherevents.

In the example of FIG. 1, a locate technician may be requested by anexcavator to locate and mark underground facilities in dig area 100. Theprecise geographic extent of dig area 100 as communicated by theexcavator may be uncertain. This uncertainty as to the precise extent ofdig area 100 may result in a locate operation that does not address theentirety of the planned excavation site or conversely may result in alocate operation that covers an area in excess of the precise extent ofthe planned excavation area. When performing the locate operation, thelocate technician may use paint, flags or some other object with aparticular color or other characteristic to mark the location of anunderground facility. Referring to the example shown in FIG. 1, thelocate technician may be required to mark a portion of underground powerline 120 that lies within dig area 100. However, the locate technicianmay not be required to mark the portion of underground power line 120that lies outside dig area 100 or telecommunications lines 130 and 140that lie outside the dig area 100. As shown in FIG. 1, telecommunicationline 140 traverses a small portion of dig area 100. Without a preciseand certain description of dig area 100, the small portion oftelecommunication line 140 within dig area 100 may not be located by thelocate technician as the technician may believe that the presence oftelecommunication line 140 is not of interest to the excavator. Thus, itis important that the locate technician is provided a clear and accurateboundary of dig area 100 to avoid, for example, an excavator laterdigging over an unmarked underground facility. Physical white lines 110placed by the excavator and/or descriptive text provided by the one-callcenter may be used to delimit dig area 100. However, as noted above,these methods may lack permanency, accuracy or certainty.

An aerial image 150 is shown as displayed on a laptop computer 170. Theaerial image provides a view of the geographic area surrounding dig area100. Implementations described herein enable excavators to delimit, onaerial images of the earth, the specific dig areas where plannedexcavations will be performed. As used herein, an “aerial image” isintended to be broadly interpreted as any image taken from above theearth's surface, such as, for example, images generated using asatellite, airplane, helicopter or other moving or fixed device. Theseaerial images may be indexed to Global Positioning System (GPS)coordinates or other coordinates that provided geo-spatial positioning.The aerial images may include geo-coding or other geographicalidentification metadata and may be provided in any computer-readableformat. The aerial image may also include images of map symbols, such asroads and street names, that may be superimposed upon or displayedseparately from an underlying geographic area.

Virtual white lines 160 may be added to the aerial image 150 tographically delimit dig area 100. Virtual white lines 160 may be addedto aerial image 150 using a drawing application, or dig area markingtool application, which may superimpose over or otherwise displayvirtual white lines 160 on the aerial image 150. As used herein “virtualwhite lines” may include lines, drawing shapes, shades, points, symbols,coordinates, data sets, or other indicators to delimit on an aerialimage the dig area in which excavation is to occur.

The exemplary embodiments described herein may additionally communicateto the underground facility owner the images, which indicate theboundary of the dig area both graphically and as a series ofgeographical coordinates. These images and coordinates enable locatetechnicians who are dispatched to locate the existing undergroundfacilities to know with precision the dig area in which excavatingactivities are planned to occur regardless of whether physical whitelines exist or whether a description of the area has been accuratelyprovided. Implementations described herein may give excavators theability to provide one-call centers with virtual white lines as part ofa locate request. Other implementations may provide virtual white linesto facility owners subsequent to the initial locate request to theone-call center.

Use of virtual white lines, as described herein, eliminates theuncertainty associated with imprecise excavator locate requests. Thisensures that underground facility owners determine the presence of theirunderground facilities within a correctly communicated and certain digarea and mark the location of their facilities where excavators in factplan to excavate. The precision and permanency of virtual white linesmay reduce the occurrence of underground facilities not being markedwithin a dig area. In addition, use of virtual white lines may result inless field communication between excavators and locate technicians aboutimprecise dig area descriptions and may reduce confusion about the exactlocation of a dig area. Confusion about precise dig area locations mayresult in costly damages to underground facilities, which may imperilthe public. When excavators inadvertently excavate at locations whereunderground facility owners have not located existing undergroundfacilities, damages to underground facilities are highly likely.Additionally, in jurisdictions where excavators are required tophysically “white line” the dig area, implementations described hereinmay enable excavators (if they so choose and are permitted to do so) toidentify the dig area boundaries with precision without being requiredto physically visit the site. The digital description of the dig area,on an aerial image generated by exemplary embodiments described herein,also creates a permanent record of the dig area that is associated witheach locate request by an excavator.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is a diagram of an exemplary network 200 inwhich systems and methods described herein may be implemented. As shownin FIG. 2, a network 200 may include a user device 210 connected to acentral server 220 and an image server 230 via a network 240. Singleuser device 210, central server 220 and image server 230 have beenillustrated as connected to network 240 for simplicity. In practice,there may be more or fewer user devices and/or servers. For example, inone alternative implementation, user device 210 may operate as acomprehensive device and, thus, the network 200 may include no centralserver, with user device 210 communicating directly through network 240to image server 230. In addition, in some instances, the user device 210may perform one or more of the functions of central server 220 and/orcentral server 220 may perform one or more of the functions of the userdevice 210. In still another implementation, multiple user devices 210may be connected to central server 220 through network 240.

User device 210 may encompass a computer device, such as laptop computer170, a personal computer, a tablet device, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a cellular radiotelephone, a mobile computing device, atouch-screen device, a touchpad device, or generally any deviceincluding, or connected to, a processor and a display. The user device210 may be portable to be separately carried by the user at aprospective dig area. Alternatively, user device 210 may be integratedwith or affixed to another moveable object, such as a vehicle. In otherimplementations, the user device may be a desktop or laptop computerlocated at, for example, an office of an excavating company. In anotherimplementation, the user device may be a computer located at theone-call center, to be used by, for example, a one-call centerrepresentative or another person present at the one-call center.

Central server 220 may include a computer device that may storeinformation received from or provided to the user device 210 and/orimage server 230. The central server may be maintained by, for example,a one-call center. In some implementations, central server 220 may be aweb-based server to facilitate a remote interface through, for example,an Internet browsing application on user device 210. Central server 220may include storage capacity and/or optionally include networked accessto one or more separate hardware components, such as image cache 235, tostore cached images and the like. Central server may also storeapplications, such as image drawing applications, that can be accessedby user device 210 to manipulate the cached images.

Image server 230 may include a computer device that may store andprovide aerial images of geographic locations. Image server 230 may beassociated with the same, or a different, party that maintains thecentral server 220. For example, image server 230 may be associated witha party that provides aerial images for a fee. Generally, the aerialimages provided by the image server may be of sufficient resolution atan optimal elevation to be useful to effectively delimit a dig area onthe image. The aerial images from image server 230 may include geocodingor other geographical identification metadata and may be provided in anycomputer-readable format, such as JPEG file interchange format (JPEG),tagged image file format (TIFF), portable document format (PDF),graphics interchange format (GIF), bitmap (BMP), portable networkgraphics (PNG), Windows® metafile (WMF), and/or the like. In addition,aerial images from image server 230 may include a combination of imagesor overlays, such as overlays of street names, regions, landmarkdescriptions, and/or other information about areas displayed in animage. The aerial images from image server 230 may be supplied by athird-party provider if the coverage area of the third-party imageprovider overlaps with the desired area of the user.

Network 240 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public Switched TelephoneNetwork (PSTN) or a cellular network, an intranet, the Internet, one ormore communications links, or a combination of networks. User device210, central server 220, and image server 230 may connect to network 240via wired and/or wireless connections. User device 210, central server220, and image server 230 may communicate using any communicationprotocol.

It is contemplated that data transfer and related communications withinthe present disclosure can be made through wireless interfacesincluding, for example, an Intranet connection, Internet, Bluetooth®technology, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, IEEE 802.11 technology, radio frequency (RF),Infrared Data Association (IrDA) compatible protocols, Local AreaNetworks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN, Shared Wireless Access Protocol(SWAP), combinations thereof, and other types of wireless networkingprotocols. Additionally, the wireless interface may be capable ofcapturing signals that reflect a user's intent by capturing the user'saudible statements or commands. Additionally, the wireless interface mayinteract with a device that monitors a condition or biological state ofthe user, such as eye movement, brain activity, heart rate, and/or othersubtle signals.

With reference to FIG. 3, a diagram of exemplary components of userdevice 210 is shown. User device 210 may include a bus 310, a processingunit 320, a memory 330, an input device 340, an output device 350, alocation identification unit 360, and a communication interface 370. Inanother implementation, user device 210 may include more, fewer, ordifferent components. For example, location identification unit 360 maynot be included, or location identification unit 360 may be included asa device located external to user device 210, such as a device worn orcarried by a user of user device 210.

Bus 310 may include a path that permits communication among thecomponents of user device 210. Processing unit 320 may include aprocessor, a microprocessor, or processing logic that may interpret andexecute instructions. Memory 330 may include a random access memory(RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a memory card, a magnetic and/oroptical recording medium and its corresponding drive, or another type ofmemory device. Generally, memory 330 may be sufficient to store andmanipulate aerial images, such as those stored in a local image cache335. In one implementation, local image cache 335 may include one ormore aerial images of a dig area to be marked by a user. In anotherimplementation, local image cache 335 may include a series of aerialimages that correspond to the geographical region to which a particularuser is assigned. For example, local image cache 335 may include acollection of high-resolution images of a particular zip code or town.In a further implementation, local image cache 335 may include aerialimages of previously delimited dig areas, such as dig areas where a userof user device 210 has previously requested locate operations. In stillanother implementation, local image cache 335 may include an entire setof aerial images intended to be made available to multiple users.

Input device 340 may include one or more mechanisms that permit a userto input information to user device 210, such as a keyboard, a keypad, atouchpad, a mouse, a stylus, a touch screen, a camera, or the like.Alternatively, or additionally, input device 340 may include amicrophone that can capture a user's intent by capturing the user'saudible commands. Alternatively, or additionally, input device 340 mayinteract with a device that monitors a condition of the user, such aseye movement, brain activity, or heart rate. Output device 350 mayinclude one or more mechanisms that output information to the user, suchas a display, a speaker or the like.

Location identification unit 360 may include a device that can determineits geographic location to a certain degree of accuracy, such as aglobal positioning system (GPS) or a global navigation satellite system(GNSS) receiver. In another implementation, location identification unit360 may include a device that determines location using other knowntechniques, such as tower (e.g., cellular tower) triangularization.Location identification unit 360 may receive location tracking signals(e.g., GPS signals) and determine its location based on these signals.In one implementation, location identification unit 360 may be capableof determining its location within approximately thirty centimeters orless. In another implementation, location identification unit mayreceive and store location coordinates from an external device.

Communication interface 370 may include any transceiver-like mechanismthat enables user device 210 to communicate with other devices and/orsystems. For example, communication interface 370 may include mechanismsfor communicating with another device or system via network 240. Forexample, communication interface 370 may enable communications betweenuser device 210 and central server 220 and/or image server 230 overnetwork 240.

As will be described in detail below, user device 210 may performcertain operations relating to the documentation of locate requestsand/or the creation of virtual white lines. User device 210 may performthese operations in response to processing unit 320 executing softwareinstructions contained in a computer-readable medium, such as memory330. A computer-readable medium may be defined as a physical or logicalmemory device.

The software instructions may be read into memory 330 from anothercomputer-readable medium, or from another device via the communicationinterface 370. The software instructions contained in memory 330 maycause processing unit 320 to perform other processes as will bedescribed later herein. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be usedin place of, or in combination with, software instructions to implementprocesses described herein. Thus, implementations described herein arenot limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry andsoftware.

Turning to FIG. 4, a diagram of exemplary components of central server220 is shown. Central server 220 may include a bus 410, a processingunit 420, a memory 430, an input device 440, an output device 450, and acommunication interface 460. In another implementation, central server220 may include more, fewer or different components.

Bus 410 may include a path that permits communication among thecomponents of central server 220. Processing unit 420 may include aprocessor, a microprocessor, or processing logic that may interpret andexecute instructions.

Memory 430 may include a magnetic and/or optical recording medium andits corresponding drive, a RAM, a ROM, a memory card, or another type ofmemory device suitable for high capacity data storage. Generally, memory430 may be sufficient to store aerial images of particular geographiclocations, such as those stored in a central image cache 435. In oneimplementation, central image cache 435 may include a set of aerialimages that correspond to the geographical regions to which a group ofusers are assigned. In still another implementation, central image cache435 may include the entire set of aerial images intended to be madeavailable to any of a group of users. For example, central image cache435 may include a collection of high-resolution aerial images of aparticular county, state or other geographic region. In anotherimplementation, as shown in network 200 of FIG. 2, central image cache435 may be replaced or supplemented with one or more networked storagecomponents, such as image cache 235.

Input device 440, similar to input device 340 of user device 210, mayinclude one or more mechanisms that permit an operator to inputinformation to central server 220. Output device 450 may include one ormore mechanisms that output information to an operator of the centralserver, such as a display, a speaker, or the like.

Communication interface 460 may include any transceiver-like mechanismthat enables central server 220 to communicate with other devices and/orsystems. For example, communication interface 460 may include mechanismsfor communicating with another device or system via network 240. Forexample, communication interface 460 may enable communications betweencentral server 220 and user device 210 and/or image server 230 overnetwork 240.

As will be described in detail below, central server 220 may performcertain operations to facilitate the documentation of locate requestsand/or virtual white lines and to disseminate locate requests (andcorresponding virtual white line information) to appropriate locatetechnicians and/or other parties. Central server 220 may perform theseoperations in response to processing unit 420 executing softwareinstructions contained in a computer-readable medium, such as memory430.

The software instructions may be read into memory 430 from anothercomputer-readable medium, or from another device via communicationinterface 440. The software instructions contained in memory 430 maycause processing unit 420 to perform processes that will be describedlater. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement processes describedherein. Thus, implementations described herein are not limited to anyspecific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

Turning to FIG. 5, a diagram of exemplary software routines for centralserver 220 and user device 210 is shown. Central server 220 may includean image retrieval routine 510, a central image cache routine 520, adata extraction routine 530, and a ticket manager routine 540. Userdevice 210 may include an image request routine 550, an image displayroutine 560, and a user input routine 570. As discussed in more detailherein, the examples of routines associated with central server 220 anduser device 210 may be interchangeable between central server 220 anduser device 210. Furthermore, some or all of routines 510, 520, 530,540, 550, 550, 560, and 570 may need not be performed exclusively by anyone of central server 220 or user device 210. FIG. 5 indicatescommunication between user device 210 and facility owner 580 and/orimage server 230 as communication passes through central server 220.However, it should be noted that in other implementations facility owner580 and/or image server 230 may communicate directly with user device210.

Generally, in one implementation, user device 210 may permit a user,such as an excavator or a person at a one-call center, to receive anaerial image and submit virtual white line information in associationwith a locate request placed to a one-call center. Central server 220may permit the one-call center to associate the virtual white lineinformation with the locate request and to provide instructions to afacility owner 580 who is required to conduct a locate. Instructionsfrom the one-call center (via, for example, central server 220) tofacility owner 580 may be provided as a compilation of information,called a “locate request ticket.” The virtual white line information maybe associated with the locate request ticket in the form of, forexample, a marked-up aerial image and/or geographic coordinates of thevirtual white lines. For the purposes herein, facility owner 580 may bea facility owner, facility operator, or any contracted representativeacting on their behalf.

Central image cache routine 510, image retrieval routine 520, dataextraction routine 530, and ticket manager routine 540 of central server220 may include a variety of functionalities. In certainimplementations, central image cache routine 510 may receive informationabout specific locate requests and parse each locate request in order todiscern location information. For example, a locate request may identifythe property associated with a dig area by an address of the property, anearby street intersection, or by geographic coordinates. The locaterequest might also specify, for example, the description of the dig areato be delimited, and the day and/or time that excavations are scheduledto begin.

Central image cache routine 510 may also convert location informationfor the property associated with the dig area to latitude/longitudecoordinates or geo-positioning coordinates. When location informationfrom a locate request is sufficiently precise to allow foridentification of corresponding imagery associated with propertysurrounding a dig area, central image cache routine 510 may calculatethe image extent (which may be generally defined as the bounding regionof the property of interest), and generate a locate request ticket forthe facility owner with the calculated extent. The image extent may, forexample, include the coordinates of the corners of the bounding region(e.g., the lower left x and y coordinates and the upper right x and ycoordinates). In one implementation, central image cache routine 510 maydetermine an image date, coordinates, and resolution of each image thatmay be stored in central image cache 435 or in another location. Inanother implementation, when location information from a ticket isimprecise (or “fuzzy”), central image cache routine 510 may mark thelocate request ticket to indicate that no corresponding image could beretrieved based on the locate request.

Image retrieval routine 520 may catalog and store images from imageserver 230 to central server 220. For example, images may be stored incentral image cache 435 in memory 430 of central server 220. In oneimplementation, image retrieval routine 520 may query central imagecache 435 or other cache for an image associated with a particularplanned dig area relating to a locate request, and determine, based on,for example, the age and resolution of the cached image, whether theimage in central image cache 435 needs to be updated from image server230.

In another implementation, image retrieval routine 520 may interfacewith multiple image providers and/or image servers 230. Image retrievalroutine 520 may determine which image provider is the best source forthe image corresponding to a particular dig area relating to a locaterequest based on algorithms that factor, for example, each imageprovider's geographical coverage, image resolution, cost, andavailability. Regarding geographical coverage, it will be beneficial toconfirm that the image provider's area of coverage includes the desiredextent.

Regarding image resolution, available resolution may be measured inmeters (or centimeters, feet, or inches) per pixel. For example, oneprovider may offer thirty centimeters per pixel, while another offersfifteen centimeters or less per pixel, for the same coverage area. If animage is requested at a standard altitude, then image retrieval routine520 may choose a pre-defined optimal scale (for example, thirtycentimeters per pixel for a rural area, but fifteen centimeters perpixel for an urban area) and determine which provider provides images atthe pre-defined optimal scale. Alternatively, if the image of interestis at a less granular scale (for example, a community or neighborhoodimage that allows the locator to pan around the image), then resolutionmay not be a significant factor.

Regarding cost, image retrieval routine 520 may have access to pricinginformation for a variety of image providers. Image retrieval routine520 may identify which provider has the lowest cost for the desiredimage. The cost analysis may be based on images desired for anindividual ticket or the algorithm may account for a group of imagerequests, including volume incentives and/or penalties from each imageprovider.

Regarding availability of image providers, image retrieval routine 520may identify what providers are available and/or operational. Also, ifan image provider has a regular latency profile (for example, if aprovider has a particular server that is busiest 3-5 PM Pacific time),then image retrieval routine 520 may manage requests to be provided toanother image provider or to a particular server of that image providerto efficiently load share the image retrieval.

When an image provider is selected, image retrieval routine 520 maydownload the image from the selected image provider's server, which maybe image server 230. The downloaded image may be stored locally, forexample, in the central image cache 435.

It should be understood that some of the routines and/or functionalitiesdescribed above with respect to central image cache routine 510 andimage retrieval routine 520 may be performed by one or both of theroutines 510 and 520 above, and the arrangement of functionalities arenot limited to the implementations disclosed herein.

In certain implementations, data extraction routine 530 may obtaingeographic coordinates (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS)coordinates, other geo-positioning coordinates, or latitude andlongitude coordinates) based on a marked-up aerial image provided by,for example, user input routine 570 in user device 210. Marked-up aerialimages may also include text or other indicators including, for example,text blocks describing the dig area; offsets to environmental landmarks;a locate request ticket number; the address or lot number of the digarea; and/or the date, time, and purpose of the excavation. Thisadditional data may also be extracted from the aerial image and storedas a dataset associated with the marked-up aerial image.

In one implementation, central server 220 may interface with a ticketmanagement program for coordinating multiple locate request tickets andfor providing locate request information to a facility owner 580. Ticketmanager routine 540 may facilitate such an interface. The ticketmanagement program for coordinating multiple tickets may also reside oncentral server 220, for example, or on a separate server that isaccessible to central server 220. Generally, locate request ticketinformation may be stored on central server 220 and disseminated to afacility owner 580. When a user submits a locate request, the user mayalso subsequently submit a set of virtual white lines on an aerial imageto associate with the locate request. In another implementation, theuser may submit a set of virtual white lines on an aerial imagesimultaneously with the user's initial locate request. The ticketmanager routine 540 may allow the user to update data regarding thelocate request and to synchronize the images and user input. Ticketmanager routine 540 may send virtual white lines from central server 220to facility owner 580 for locate request tickets that need to becompleted, and will copy the input from facility owner 580 to centralserver 220 for completed tickets. Ticket manager routine 540 mayinterface with the routines described above to correlate assigned locaterequest tickets with images and virtual white lines for those ticketsand download the images to facility owner 580 from central server 220.

Referring now to routines in FIG. 5 that may be associated with userdevice 210, image request routine 550 may solicit information from auser as the basis of an image to associate with a dig area for a locaterequest. For example, the user input may include a postal address, lotnumber, plat number, street intersection, a set of GPS coordinatesrelating to the planned dig area, or the like. The user device may sendthe location information to central server 220 to allow the centralserver (via, for example, image retrieval routine 520) to identify acorresponding image.

In one implementation, image request routine 550 may identify an imageto retrieve based on GPS coordinates of a GPS-enabled device associatedwith a user. For example, a user may arrive at an excavation site in aGPS-enabled vehicle and the GPS information from the vehicle may be usedto identify coordinates corresponding to an image to be retrieved. GPScoordinates may also be obtained from other GPS-enabled devices beingused by or in the vicinity of the user. As used herein, a GPS-enableddevice may include any device or combination of devices capable ofinterfacing with a global navigation satellite system, geo-spatialpositioning system, or other location-identification system to determinea location. Examples of GPS-enabled devices may include a marking device(e.g., a paint wand) with an integrated GPS receiver; a locating device(e.g., a locating wand) with a GPS receiver, a wearable GPS-enableddevice, a vehicle-mounted GPS system, certain PDAs, computers, andcellular telephones, and stand-alone GPS-enabled systems.

In another implementation, a user may provide a street address or otherproperty identification information. If the street address or otherproperty identification information is insufficient to identify aspecific property, image request routine may (by, for example,communicating with central server 220) suggest a list of possiblematches or suggest another form of information suitable for identifyingthe property associated with a planned dig area.

In still another implementation, image request routine 550 may identifyone or more images to request based on a designated geographical areaassigned to a user. For example, a user may be assigned to work inseveral dig areas associated with a particular section of aneighborhood. The user may input coordinates associated with the entireselected section of the neighborhood, and central image cache routine510 and/or image retrieval routine 520 may then retrieve images forthose coordinates.

Once an image is loaded from local cache 335 and/or central server 220,image display routine 560 may provide a variety of view options for theuser. For example, image display routine 560 may support zooming in andout of the image by changing the image scale. In addition, image displayroutine 560 may support panning horizontally and vertically in theimage. Furthermore, image display routine 560 may support “roaming”outside the boundaries of the initial extent. Roaming generally occurswhen the user zooms or pans, such that images beyond the boundaries ofthe stored images may be required to be retrieved from either localimage cache 335 or central server 220. The additional images retrievedfrom either local image cache 335 or central server 220 may be displayedand stitched together to display a complete image.

User input routine 570 allows the user to add information to the imageto delimit a planned dig area. User input routine 570 may accept userinput from, for example, input device 340, and may support the additionof lines, freehand forms (or scribbling), shading, drawing shapes suchas circles and rectangles, or other markings, which delimit theapproximate location of the dig area. As used herein, a drawing shapemay generally be any kind of drawing shape or mark. In addition to thedelimiting of the dig area on the aerial image, user input routine 570may also include offsets from environmental landmarks that may bedisplayed on the image in, for example, English or metric units.Environmental landmarks may also be marked and/or highlighted on theaerial image. An environmental landmark may include any physical objectthat is likely to remain in a fixed location for an extended period oftime. Examples of an environmental landmark may include a tree, a curb,a driveway, a utility pole, a fire hydrant, a storm drain, a pedestal, awater meter box, a manhole lid, a building structure (e.g., aresidential or office building), or a light post. For example, an edgeof a dig area located two and a half meters behind the curb of aresidential street would be documented as being offset two and a halfmeters behind the curb.

In one implementation, there may be occasions where central server 220is unable to provide an aerial image to associate with locationinformation for a planned dig area. Instead, user input routine 570 maystill be utilized without the underlying aerial image (e.g., a blankgrid). For example, the user may use drawing tools in user input routine570 to sketch environmental landmarks and virtual white lines sufficientto delimit a dig area.

User input routine 570 may also accept positioning information fromexternal sources, such as a GPS-enabled device. In one implementation,where a blank grid is being used, the positioning information may beuploaded to the blank grid to provide, for example, points for relativespacing, proper scale, and dimensioning of a user's sketch.

In another implementation, user device 210 may also communicate withexternal components to identify geographical positioning coordinates ofvarious points related to a dig area, such as dig area boundaries,environmental landmarks, and the like. Particular coordinates may bestored in a memory of the external device, sent to user device 210, andprovided as information on the aerial image using, for example, userinput routine 570. The coordinates may appear, for example, as dots onthe aerial image that can be connected or labeled by the user using userinterface 570.

User input routine 570 may further include features to annotate theimage with text and to revise user inputs by, for example deleting,dragging or pasting drawing shapes. In one implementation, when the userzooms the image view in or out, user input (e.g., lines and/or shapes)that have been added to the original image may adhere to the changingimage scale and remain in the original user-input locations.

The virtual white lines, which may be a compilation of the aerial imageand user inputs, may be saved as an image file. In anotherimplementation, the user inputs may be saved in a marked-up format,including the geo-coordinates of each drawing shape added to the imageby the user.

Turning to FIG. 6, there is provided a flow diagram 600 of exemplaryactivities of central server 220 for managing a locate request accordingto an implementation. In another implementation, at least some of theblocks of flow diagram 600 may be performed using user device 210. Inanother implementation, one or more of the blocks of FIG. 6 may bemanually performed or performed by other devices.

Flow diagram 600 may begin, for example, when an excavator contacts aone-call center to place a locate request. The user (e.g., the excavatoror a person at the one-call center) may use a computer or other userdevice 210 to submit the locate request to central server 220. Centralserver 220 may include, generally, a virtual white line application andimage storage service to facilitate locate requests. In oneimplementation, the user may be required to establish an account withcentral server 220, which may include providing a login identifier andpassword. Another implementation may allow for access to central server220 without an account. As part of the locate request, the user (viauser device 210) may provide to central server 220 a geographic locationor address associated with a planned dig area. The geographic locationor address may be extracted from the locate request, so that the servermay receive the dig area location information (block 610).

In block 620, aerial image coordinates may be associated with thegeographic location or address information. For example, central server220 may associate coordinates of an aerial image with the generallocation of the planned dig area that was provided in the locaterequest. Such association may include associating the address withgeographic location information that has a defined image extent, such asglobal positioning coordinates for the image extent corresponding to theproperty address.

In block 630, a stored aerial image associated with the address may beretrieved from a cache of images and provided to the user device 210. Aspreviously described and discussed herein with respect to FIG. 5, thecache of images may reside within central server 220, a separate imageserver, or another storage device. Central server 220 may determine ifthe central image cache 435 (or other image cache) already has an aerialimage stored for the dig area that corresponds to the calculated imageextent. If so, central image cache 435 may return the stored aerialimage to central server 220. If central image cache 435 does not have acorresponding aerial image, then a determination may be made whether toobtain an updated image from image server(s) 230.

Central server 200 may send the particular image associated with theaddress to the user device (block 640). Along with the image, centralserver 220 may provide a dig area marking tool application to a browserat user device 210. Aspects of drawing virtual white lines with the digarea marking tool application are described further with respect to FIG.7 below. It should be noted that blocks 610 through 640 may be aniterative process. In addition, if a user does not have a particularaddress, it may be possible to pan around a high-level (e.g., lowerresolution) aerial image to eventually identify a more specific locationassociated with a planned dig area.

After a user has added virtual white lines and any additionalinformation to the image, the edited image and other information tocomplete the locate request may be sent from user device 210 andreceived by central server 220 (block 650). If not previouslyaccomplished by the user device, central server 220 may convert thevirtual white lines to geographic coordinates (block 660). Morespecifically, the central server 220 may determine geographiccoordinates (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates orlatitude and longitude coordinates) of the dig area based on virtualwhite lines on the marked-up digital map.

In block 670, central server 220 may associate the locate request withthe mark-up image and coordinates of the virtual white lines. Uponreceipt of the marked-up aerial image from user device 210, centralserver 220 may forward the marked-up version of the aerial image tomemory 430 (or another memory location) for storing in association withthe locate request ticket information. The marked-up aerial image maysubsequently be provided to an underground facility owner that willascertain the location of any underground facilities within or near thedig area. Central server 210 may provide the marked-up aerial image(including geographic coordinates and other locate request information)to the underground facility owner(s) that will perform the undergroundfacility locate operation. The locate request and virtual white linesmay be sent to facility owner 580 (block 680). The information may beprovided via an electronic or tangible delivery system, which mayinclude, for example, email, a webpage, facsimile, automated telephoneservice, printer, automated mailing, or other form of communication.

While the flow diagram of FIG. 6 is described in the context of anexcavator contacting a one-call center, other implementations may occurin the context of an excavator contacting a facility owner directly toplace a locate request. In another implementation, a one-call center maycontact a facility owner to transmit a locate request. In still anotherimplementation, the one-call center representative may draft virtualwhite lines based on input from an excavator.

With reference to FIG. 7, there is shown a flow diagram 700 of exemplaryactivities of user device 210 for submitting a locate request. Userdevice 210 may first request from central server 220 an aerial imagethat corresponds to an address or other location information for aplanned dig area (block 710). In block 720, user device 210 may receivethe aerial image and allow a user to confirm that the aerial imageproperly corresponds to the actual location of the dig area. Along withthe image, user device 210 may receive a dig area marking toolapplication to allow a user to add data to the image. As noted abovewith respect to FIG. 6, the requesting (block 710) and receiving (block720) of the aerial image may be an iterative process and may allow forpanning a high level-aerial image to identify a particular dig arealocation.

Once an acceptable image is received at user device 210, user device 210may associate the locate request data with the aerial image. The locaterequest data may include, for example, a locate request ticket number,an address of the dig area, and/or the date, time and purpose of theexcavation. Some or all of the locate request data may be included asmetadata with the aerial image or otherwise associated with the image.

In block 740, virtual white lines may be added to the aerial image thatwas received previously in block 720. The information about theapproximate geographic location of the dig area may be input by the userusing the dig area marking tool application and an input device, such asinput device 340 (FIG. 3) of user device 210. Additional aspectsregarding use of the dig area marking tool are discussed in more detailbelow with respect to FIG. 9.

Still referring to block 740, information about the approximategeographic location of the dig area may also be received directly from aGPS-enabled device, such as the GPS-enabled locating device or markingdevice used in block 630, and added to the retrieved image. For example,the approximate geographic location of the physical dig area white linesmay be determined by identifying the current geographic location of aGPS-enabled device as it is located at points on the physical whitelines of the dig area. In one implementation, the GPS-enabled device maybe a marking tool that stores the GPS coordinates of the marking tool asa user applies the physical white lines. The information from theGPS-enabled device may be communicated to user device 210 or centralserver 220 to be associated with the aerial image. The user may use acombination of received GPS information and manual entries to createvirtual white lines for the dig area.

In block 750, information about offsets of the dig area fromenvironmental landmarks may, if necessary, be added to the stored aerialimage that was retrieved previously in block 620. As with the input ofthe virtual white lines in block 640, the location of the environmentallandmarks may be input by the user using an input device, such as inputdevice 340 (FIG. 3) of user device 210, or automatically input from aGPS-enabled device. The environmental landmark may be marked and/orlabeled as an existing object shown on the aerial image, or theenvironmental landmark may be a separate item (e.g., not shown on theaerial image) that is added by the user. The offset information may beautomatically calculated or input by the user. Offset information mayalso be obtained by identifying selected environmental landmarks on theretrieved image and automatically calculating the distance from theselected environmental landmarks to the virtual white lines added to theimage.

In block 760, information about the location of the virtual white linesmay, if necessary, be converted to GPS coordinates. The location of thevirtual white lines and/or landmarks shown on the aerial image may beassociated with approximate GPS (or other geographic) coordinates basedon the geo-coding of the aerial image. Thus, in some implementations theGPS coordinates of the virtual white lines may be available toapproximately delimit the dig area independent of the stored aerialimage. In block 770, the retrieved aerial image and information aboutthe location of the virtual white lines may be stored in memory as asingle image. The single image may be stored as, for example, a digitalimage or an interactive electronic map. Additionally or alternatively,in block 780, the geographic coordinates of the virtual white lines maybe stored in memory, such as memory 330 (FIG. 3), as a separate dataset. The data set may be compiled as, for example, a database of GPScoordinates and other information relevant to the locate request. Anexemplary data set of the information that may be provided is describedin more detail with respect to FIG. 8. In block 790, the single imageand/or separate data set may be transmitted to a central location, suchas central server 220 (FIG. 2).

At FIG. 8, there is shown a diagram of an exemplary data set 800 thatmay be stored in memory 330 and/or transmitted to central server 220.Some of the information in data set 800 may be automatically populatedby a software program on user device 210 or central server 220, such asthe dig area marking tool application or a related application. As shownin FIG. 8, a data set 800 may include a timestamp field 810, anexcavator identifier field 820, a dig area coordinates field 830, anenvironmental landmark identifier field 840, an environmental landmarklocation field 850, an other information field 860, a property addressfield 870, and a ticket number field 880. In another implementation, thedata set 800 may include additional, fewer, or different fields.

Timestamp field 810 may include time data that identifies the day and/ortime that the completed locate request was submitted. The time data intimestamp field 810 is shown in FIG. 8 as 9:43 a.m., Eastern StandardTime on Nov. 20, 2007—although any type of date and/or time code may beused. The information in timestamp field 810 may be useful inestablishing when a locate request was initiated.

Excavator identifier field 820 may include an identifier that uniquelyidentifies the entity submitting the locate request. The identifier inexcavator field 820 is shown in FIG. 8 as “Joe's Pool Center”—althoughany type of identifier may be used. Virtual white line coordinates field830 may include geographic location information corresponding to thedelimited dig area. In one implementation, the geographic locationinformation may include a set of geographic points along the delimiteddig area. The geographic location information in virtual white linecoordinates field 830 is shown in FIG. 8 as N38°51.40748, W077°20.27798;. . . ; N38°51.40784, W077°20.27865—although any type of geographiclocation information may be used. The information in virtual white linecoordinates field 830 may be useful in graphically presenting the digarea on a map, and/or to verify that the dig area was accuratelydelimited with physical white lines.

Environmental landmark identifier field 840 may include an identifierthat uniquely identifies the type of environmental landmark beingmarked. The identifier in environmental landmark identifier field 840 isshown in FIG. 8 as “curb”—although any type of identifier may be used.Environmental landmark location field 850 may include geographiclocation information corresponding to the environmental landmarkidentified in environmental landmark identifier field 840. Thegeographic location information in environmental landmark location field850 is shown in FIG. 8 as N38°51.40756, W077°20.27805; . . . ;N38°51.40773, W077°20.27858—although any type of geographic locationinformation may be used.

Other information field 860 may store other data that may be useful,including user notes, such as distance information that identifies adistance between one or more environmental landmarks and one or moreboundaries of the dig area. Other information field 860 is shown in FIG.8 as including “1.2 meters between curb and edge of dig area”—althoughany other data may be used. Additionally and/or alternatively, otherinformation field 860 may include audio/voice data, transcribedvoice-recognition data or the like to incorporate such user notes.

Property address field 870 may be the property address associated withthe dig area in the data set 800. Property address field 870 mayinclude, for example, the street address and zip code of the property.Other information in field 870 may include city, state, and/or countyidentifiers. The ticket number field 880 may include the ticket numberassociated with the locate request, such as ticket number “1234567”shown in FIG. 8. In some implementations, the ticket number may not beknown at the time the data set 800 is provided from user device 210 tocentral server 220; and, thus, ticket number 880 may be added to thedata set 800 at a later time by central server 220.

In one implementation, central server 220 may store multiple data setscorresponding to a single dig area. User device 210 may provide the datasets to server 220 in a batch—such as a batch corresponding to a groupof marks delimiting a single dig area—or individually. The batch may begrouped together with other information generally relating to the locaterequest, such as the name of the company responsible for performing thelocate operation, the name or other identification information of thelocate technician, and the like. Additionally, or alternatively, theother information generally relating to the locate operation may beincluded in each data set.

Now turning to FIG. 9, an exemplary diagram of a user interface 340 thatmay be presented via the user device 210 is shown. User interface 900may present an aerial image 905, along with a image scale 910 overlayingaerial image 905, and may also include various palettes, toolbars, orother interfaces that enable the user to manipulate (e.g., zoom in, zoomout) and/or mark up the aerial image. For example, user interface 900may include a marking palette 915, a sketching palette 920, and anavigation palette 925. Marking palette 915 may group user interfacebuttons that the user can select (using, for example, the input device340) in order to draw certain shapes (e.g., a polygon, a rectangle or acircle) or to orient or annotate the aerial image. Marking palette 915may include a button (e.g., text button) that permits the user to addtext boxes that can be used to add textual content for annotating theaerial image. Sketching palette 920 may group user interface buttonsthat the user can select in order to draw virtual white line shapes onaerial image 905. Sketching palette 920 may include, for example, afreehand button that permits the user to draw virtual white linesfreehand, or a line button that permits the user to draw straight lineson aerial image 905. Navigation palette 925 may group user interfacebuttons that the user can select in order to zoom or pan the aerialimage (e.g., zoom in, zoom out, zoom to, pan, pan left, pan right, panup, pan down, etc.). Navigation palette 925 may additionally include oneor more buttons that enable user drawn shapes to be accentuated (e.g.,grayscale, transparency, etc.). The exemplary user interface 900 of FIG.9 additionally depicts an example circular virtual white line 930 thathas been drawn on aerial image 905. FIG. 9 also depicts an examplerectangular virtual white line 935 being drawn on map 905 using a linecursor 940.

Aspects of the present disclosure as described herein enable a user(e.g., an excavator) to delimit a dig area when placing a locate requestwith, for example, a one-call center. A server at the one-call centermay retrieve from a database the appropriate aerial image of a specificgeographic location corresponding to a planned dig area where locateoperations are to be conducted for underground facilities. The retrievedaerial image is provided to the user so that the user may draft, on theretrieved image, the approximate geographic boundaries of the planneddig area. The combination of the retrieved image and additionalinformation drafted by the user may be saved in a variety of formats asvirtual white lines. Other information regarding the specific geographiclocation of the dig area boundaries and environmental landmarks may beincorporated into the virtual white lines using direct input fromGPS-enabled positioning tools and the like.

In other implementations, a user may interface directly with a facilityowner to provide a virtual white line image—eliminating the involvementof the one-call center. In such an implementation, functionalities ofthe one-call center for enabling the user of virtual white lines may beassumed by the facility owner and/or the user.

Virtual white lines delimiting a dig area may serve several purposes.For example, virtual white lines as described herein may enhanceexcavators' safety and protect the general public from risks associatedwith damage to underground facilities by ensuring locate techniciansreceive clearly-communicated boundaries for their locate operations.Furthermore, virtual white lines may enhance the completeness of locateoperations ensuring that excavators do not excavate where locates havenot been performed. In addition, the virtual white lines may providesignificant improvements in accuracy. In contrast, translation oftextual descriptions of a dig area may be time consuming and imprecise.For example, a telephone-call to a one-call center may require anoperator to transcribe an audible description of a planned dig area. Thetranscription may be eventually provided to a locate technicianperforming a locate operation of underground facilities. However,transcribed verbal descriptions of a location may lack precision,possibly communicating to a locate technician incorrect bounds of thedig area intended by the excavator, creating a significant risk ofdamage to underground facilities. As another benefit, virtual whitelines as described herein may enable excavators to identify dig areaboundaries with precision without being required to physically visit adig area. Thus, an excavator may be able to save time and resources byeliminating certain trips to a dig area. Additionally, or alternatively,use of virtual white lines may provide for easier dissemination. Aerialimages with virtual white lines can be associated with individualtickets and recalled electronically, avoiding the uncertainties anderrors associated with manual filing systems.

The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe description to the precise form disclosed. Modifications andvariations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may beacquired from practice of the present disclosure.

For example, certain information has been described as being presentedvisually on a screen of user device 210. In other implementations, thisinformation may be audibly provided to the user. In addition, particularinformation has been described as being input via an input device 340,such as a screen of user device 210. In other implementations, thisinformation may be provided in other ways, such as by receiving inputsvia input keys and/or buttons, by recognizing speech of the user, or bymonitoring a condition of the user. More particularly, input device 340may be capable of capturing signals that reflect a user's intent. Forexample, input device 340 may include a microphone that can capture auser's intent by capturing the user's audible commands. Alternatively,input device 340 may interact with a device that monitors a condition ofthe user, such as eye movement, brain activity, or heart rate.

As another example, certain components, such as user device 210 andcentral server 220 have been described as using an image cache. In otherimplementations, user device 210 and/or central server 220 maycommunicate with an image server (such as imager server 230) inreal-time, so that no image cache may be required. In still otherimplementations, user device 210 may, for example, communicate in realtime with central server 220.

In addition, implementations of FIG. 5 generally describes processesassociating a one-call center with central server 220. In anotherimplementation, facility owner 580 may provide a separate server toaccomplish some of the routines of FIG. 5. For example, a facility ownermay be informed by a one-call center of a locate request that includesonly a textual description of a planned dig area. Facility owner 580 mayseparately contact the excavator (e.g., user) who placed the locaterequest and provide and conduct virtual white line procedures with theuse from a separate server, later associating the virtual white lineswith the other ticket information. In still other implementations, theuser may conduct an initial locate request in two parts by providing aconventional locate request to a one-call center and then conducting avirtual white line process with a separate server operated by a facilityowner 580.

As another example, it should be noted that reference to a GPS-enableddevice is not limited to GPS systems only, and that any globalnavigation satellite system or other system that provides geo-spatialpositioning may be used in implementations of the present disclosure.

In addition, while a series of blocks has been described with regard toFIGS. 6 and 7, the order of the blocks may be modified in otherimplementations. Further, non-dependent blocks may be performed inparallel.

Aspects, as described above, may be implemented in many different formsof software, firmware, and hardware in the implementations illustratedin the figures. The actual software code or specialized control hardwareused to implement these aspects is not limiting of the descriptionprovided herein. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects weredescribed without reference to the specific software code—it beingunderstood that software and control hardware can be designed toimplement the aspects based on the description herein.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in theclaims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are notintended to limit the present disclosure. In fact, many of thesefeatures may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claimsand/or disclosed in the specification.

No element, act, or instruction used in the present application shouldbe construed as critical or essential to the present disclosure unlessexplicitly described as such. In addition, as used herein, the article“a” is intended to include one or more items. Where only one item isintended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Further, thephrase “based on” is intended to mean, “based, at least in part, on”unless explicitly stated otherwise.

1. A method for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of atleast one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least aportion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavationactivities, the method comprising: A) electronically receiving datarepresenting an aerial image of a geographic area including the digarea, the data including geo-coding or geographical identificationmetadata associated with the aerial image; B) displaying at least aportion of the aerial image on a display device, wherein the displayedaerial image includes at least one map symbol, street name, region,and/or landmark description superimposed upon or displayed separatelyfrom the geographic area in the displayed aerial image; C) in advance ofthe excavation activities and at a first user location remote from thedig area, sketching virtual white lines to delimit the dig area on thedisplayed aerial image, via a user input device and a drawingapplication associated with the display device, so as to generate amarked-up digital image including a delimited dig area, the marked updigital image including the virtual white lines to precisely identifyboundaries of the dig area; and D) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing information relating to the marked-up digitalimage so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absenceof the at least one underground facility within the dig area, whereinprior to A), the method comprises: providing non-image information toidentify the dig area, wherein the non-image information comprises atleast one of: a text description of the dig area; an address or a lotnumber of at least one property within which the dig area is located; astreet intersection in a vicinity of the dig area; geographiccoordinates associated with the dig area; and a designated geographicwork area assigned to a first user at the first user location, andwherein A) comprises: Al) electronically receiving the data representingthe aerial image based at least in part on the non-image information,and wherein prior to Al), the method comprises: calculating an imageextent based at least in part on the non-image information so as tofacilitate an identification of the aerial image of the geographic areaincluding the dig area.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to A),the method comprises: providing at least one of a log-in identifier anda password so as to enable at least A).
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein prior to Al), the method comprises: selecting a source for theaerial image based at least in part on at least one of: a geographiccoverage area of the source; an availability of the aerial image fromthe source; a desired resolution for the aerial image and an availableresolution from the source; an age of the aerial image from the source;and a cost of the aerial image from the source.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein A) comprises receiving additional data representing aplurality of aerial images of the geographic area, and wherein B)comprises stitching together multiple aerial images of the plurality ofaerial images so as to provide the displayed aerial image.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein C) comprises adding, via the user input device, atleast one indicator to the displayed aerial image, wherein the at leastone indicator comprises one or more of at least one line, at least onedrawing shape, at least one shade, and at least one symbol.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein C) further comprises marking on the displayedaerial image at least one environmental landmark in the geographic areaso as to generate the marked-up digital image.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein C) further comprises indicating at least one offset distance inthe displayed aerial image between at least one environmental landmarkin the geographic area and an edge of the dig area so as to generate themarked-up digital image.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein C) furthercomprises: automatically receiving geographic coordinates of the atleast one environmental landmark; and automatically calculating the atleast one offset distance based at least in part on the geographiccoordinates of the at least one environmental landmark.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein C) is performed without acquiring geographiccoordinates to delimit the dig area.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining from the marked-up aerial image a plurality ofgeographic coordinates representing the delimited dig area, wherein theinformation electronically transmitted and/or electronically stored inD) includes the plurality of geographic coordinates representing thedelimited the dig area.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation electronically transmitted and/or electronically stored inD) comprises at least one of: the marked-up digital image; metadataassociated with the marked-up digital image; a text description of thedig area; an address or a lot number of at least one property withinwhich the dig area is located; a street intersection in a vicinity ofthe dig area; a date and/or time of day for an excavation of the digarea; a first identifier associated with an excavator to perform theexcavation activities; a second identifier associated with at least oneenvironmental landmark in the vicinity of the dig area; a time stampassociated with electronic transmission and/or storage; and a locaterequest ticket identifier.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein D)comprises transmitting an email and/or a link to a webpage including theinformation relating to the marked-up digital image to at least oneparty associated with a facility owner.
 13. At least one non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, whenexecuted by at least one processing unit, perform a method forfacilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least oneunderground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion ofthe dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities,the method comprising: A) electronically receiving data representing anaerial image of a geographic area including the dig area, the dataincluding geo-coding or geographical identification metadata associatedwith the aerial image; B) displaying at least a portion of the aerialimage on a display device, wherein the displayed aerial image includesat least one map symbol, street name, region, and/or landmarkdescription superimposed upon or displayed separately from thegeographic area in the displayed aerial image; C) receiving user input,via a user input device associated with the display device and a drawingapplication associated with the display device, the user inputrepresentative of sketching virtual white lines to delimit the dig areaon the displayed aerial image; D) generating a marked-up digital imageincluding a delimited dig area, the marked up digital image includingthe virtual white lines to precisely identify boundaries of the dig areabased on the user input; and E) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing information relating to the marked-up digitalimage so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absenceof the at least one underground facility within the dig area; whereinprior to A), the method comprises: providing non-image information toidentify the dig area, wherein the non-image information comprises atleast one of: a text description of the dig area an address or a lotnumber of at least one property within which the dig area is located; astreet intersection in a vicinity of the dig area geographic coordinatesassociated with the dig area and a designated geographic work areaassigned to a first user at the first user location, and wherein A)comprises: Al) electronically receiving the data representing the aerialimage based at least in part on the non-image information, and whereinprior to Al), the method comprises: calculating an image extent based atleast in part on the non-image information so as to facilitate anidentification of the aerial image of the geographic area including thedig area.
 14. An apparatus for facilitating detection of a presence oran absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area,wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbedduring excavation activities, the apparatus comprising: a communicationinterface; a display device; a user input device; a memory to storeprocessor-executable instructions and a drawing application associatedwith the display device; and a processing unit coupled to thecommunication interface, the display device, the user input device, andthe memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executableinstructions by the processing unit, the processing unit: controls thecommunication interface to electronically receive data representing anaerial image of a geographic area including the dig area, the dataincluding geo-coding or geographical identification metadata associatedwith the aerial image; controls the display device to display at least aportion of the aerial image, wherein the displayed aerial image includesat least one map symbol, street name, region, and/or landmarkdescription superimposed upon or displayed separately from thegeographic area in the displayed aerial image; in advance of theexcavation activities and at the first user location remote from the digarea, acquires user input from the user input device, the user inputrepresentative of sketching virtual white lines via the drawingapplication to delimit the dig area on the displayed aerial image;generates a marked-up digital image including a delimited dig area, themarked up digital image including the virtual white lines to preciselyidentify boundaries of the dig area based on the user input; and furthercontrols the communication interface and/or the memory to electronicallytransmit and/or electronically store information relating to themarked-up digital image so as to facilitate the detection of thepresence or the absence of the at least one underground facility withinthe dig area; wherein prior to A), the processing unit receives from theuser input device non-image information to identify the dig area,wherein the non-image information comprises at least one of: a textdescription of the dig area an address or a lot number of at least oneproperty within which the dig area is located; a street intersection ina vicinity of the dig area geographic coordinates associated with thedig area and a designated geographic work area assigned to a first userat the first user location, and wherein in A), the processing unit: Al)receives the data representing the aerial image based at least in parton the non-image information, and wherein prior to Al), the processingunit: calculates an image extent based at least in part on the non-imageinformation so as to facilitate an identification of the aerial image ofthe geographic area including the dig area.
 15. The apparatus of claim14, further comprising a location identification unit to determine ageographic location of the apparatus.
 16. The apparatus of claim 14,wherein the user input device includes at least one of a stylus, amouse, a keyboard, a keypad, a touchpad, and a touch screen.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein after acquiring user input from the userinput device to delimit the dig area, the processing unit determinesfrom the marked-up digital image a plurality of geographic coordinatesrepresenting the delimited dig area, and wherein the informationelectronically transmitted by the communication interface and/orelectronically stored in the memory includes the plurality of geographiccoordinates representing the delimited the dig area.
 18. The apparatusof claim 14, wherein the information electronically transmitted by thecommunication interface and/or electronically stored in the memorycomprises at least one of: the marked-up digital image; metadataassociated with the marked-up digital image; a text description of thedig area; an address or a lot number of at least one property withinwhich the dig area is located; a street intersection in a vicinity ofthe dig area; a date and/or time of day for an excavation of the digarea; a first identifier associated with an excavator to perform theexcavation activities; a second identifier associated with at least oneenvironmental landmark in the vicinity of the dig area; a time stampassociated with electronic transmission and/or storage; and a locaterequest ticket identifier.